THIS WEEK, ATTITUDE Magazine in the UK discovered a series of offensive tweets sent by Stormzy back in 2011, 2012 and 2014.
The three tweets unearthed show the rapper using variations of the term “fa**ot”:
Earlier this afternoon, Stormzy addressed the since deleted tweets in a thread - apologising unreservedly for his “very hurtful and discriminative views”
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“The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop.”
He wrote about how he has learned what effect that type of language has in the intervening years:
The comments I made were unacceptable and disgusting, full stop. Comments that I regret and to everyone I’ve offended, I am sorry, these are attitudes I’ve left in the past. The homophobic language I used was, embarrassingly, a part of my vocabulary when I was younger and ignorance made me feel comfortable to use them whilst not understanding the hate and the ramifications they carry. That isn’t an excuse, I take responsibility for my mistakes and hope you can understand that my younger self doesn’t reflect who I am today.
People immediately recognised that this wasn’t like a standard celebrity apology
He understands that the language he used as a teenager was homophobic
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The lack of a “I’m sorry if I offended anyone” line was instantly noticeable too
Given the amount of unsatisfactory celebrity apologies that have circulated in recent weeks – including Conor McGregor’s appearance on the Late Late - this was a breath of fresh air
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Stormzy took ownership of his past once he was alerted to it, and, for many, his unequivocal statement shows he really has grown
